


the promt. For Scarlett

by LtSaraDHarkness



Category: The Flash
Genre: M/M, just for the promt, not mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:27:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtSaraDHarkness/pseuds/LtSaraDHarkness
Summary: Published here so my aunt can see where i got the inspiration for my fic Scarlett, some awesome people got my wheels turning and I ended up writing Scarlett. 
 http://whyinhades.tumblr.com/post/149969131009/kyra5972-whyinhades-kyra5972;
Go check the link of notes because there were others after I wrote or started writing Scarlett that were cool too. This is just the ones I read first.





	

Barry is wearing a dress. It flatters his frame, despite probably not being intended for him as a final product. Iris is basically just using him as a model and living dummy.

SOMEHOW, SOME WAY…Leonard Snart walks in on this.

What if this is sort of the intro to the other crossdressing!Barry headcanon you wrote? Like, this is how Barry first started. Iris would use Barry as a model to figure out what looked good, or just have him try on stuff for the hell of it. 

Let’s be honest, Barry also has the perfect build for a lot of women’s clothes. He’s super skinny, with amazing legs and arms, and his ass is fantastic. He does have a few subtle curves. So of course all these dresses and skirts, which were designed with literal runway models in mind, look amazing on him. 

Over time, Barry starts to enjoy putting on dresses. He even lets Iris do his makeup a few times and teach him how to put it on himself. Wearing women’s clothes makes him feel better. He feels confident and sexy, a far cry from his stuttering awkwardness when he wears his normal clothes. 

Barry never tells Iris that he’s moved from trying on dresses with her to actually crossdressing. So Iris might know he’s put on women’s clothing a few times, but nobody knows how much he enjoys it. And Barry just keeps slowly buying more and more clothing, and getting better and better at doing his own makeup. 

Maybe Leonard doesn’t walk in on this yet. Instead, he does that in the other headcanon (see above) after he’s been dating Barry for a few years.

What do you think?

What if Barry had started to venture out in the women’s clothes? Never in Central, but he’ll go to Keystone or another nearby city wearing the women’s clothes, makeup, and a wig, and go dancing or even just go spend the day wandering the city. When he really goes all out, especially with a wig, you can barely tell it’s Barry. If you know it’s him, you can tell, but otherwise no one looks at him and sees a crossdressing man, they see a woman. Iris would do a double take and know it’s him, but that’s because she’s seen him in dresses and with makeup before, she knows what he looks like like that, but everyone else wouldn’t have a clue.

So what if Barry ran into Len during one of his visits to Keystone? And Len had no idea it was Barry, but still flirted because this girl he just bumped into is really cute, kinda reminds him of Barry… Barry’s trying not to panic and still surprised to have run into someone he knows, and his nemesis at that, so when Len asks what his name is ‘Scarlet’ just kind of pops out without his permission. And he ends up confusedly agreeing to a date with Len without really realizing it. After Len leaves, it’s all he can do to keep from panicking. And when Len gets home and Lisa and Mick find out he has a date with a girl he met in Keystone, they’re both like ‘um, what about the Flash?’ cos they both know he’s totally head over heels for Barry even if he won’t admit it.

Date night comes and Barry’s freaking out trying to figure out if he should show ip as Scarlet, show up as himself, or just stand Len up.

Oh man, this should totally be a separate post, it’s too awesome and needs its own ‘verse.

I think Barry would really only consider two of his three options- to stand Len up or to show up, but as ‘Scarlet.’ He just won’t- he can’t- show up as himself. The whole reason he was in Keystone was so that no one would recognize him while he was in a dress! He doesn’t want to deal with the shame and humiliation of Snart knowing he cross-dresses. Plus, what if it gets back to CCPD the next time Snart’s arrested? Barry would rather die than have Captain Singh know he likes wearing high heels because they make him feel powerful.

So, yeah, it’s show up as ‘Scarlet’ or not show up at all. Barry knows that he really should take the second option- Snart is dangerous and getting involved with him isn’t a game- but for some reason, he hesitates.

Barry knows that he’s attracted to Snart. He shouldn’t be, but he is. He’s fascinated by him, too, how Snart can be so cruel and clever and yet compassionate all at once, to himself, to the world, to the people he cares about. Under different circumstances- if he wasn’t the Flash, or if Snart wasn’t ‘Captain Cold’- Barry would go on a date with him in a heartbeat, even as ‘Scarlet.’ It’d the worth the risk.

What I see happening, then, is Barry finding a way to justify showing up to the date. It’s a chance to spy on his nemesis! (Nevermind that ‘Leonard Snart’ doesn’t exist anymore and few people recognize ‘Captain Cold’ out of costume.) CCPD should be informed about Snart’s criminal activities! (Who talks about their personal experience robbing a bank on a first date?) He can- he can-

He can totally go on a date with the guy he’s been inappropriately crushing on for weeks. Months. Yeah. He can do this.

So Barry shows up as ‘Scarlet’ and actually has a lovely time. Who knew Snart had such a great sense of dry wit and snark? Or that he could be a perfect gentleman, pulling out Barry’s chair and paying the bill? How did he find such a nice, family-owned, private restaurant with excellent food and great atmosphere? Or the cute pop-up ice cream shop! On their walk to the local park! Which has a live band playing every Saturday night?!? Wow.

All in all it’s a perfect date, probably the best one Barry’s ever been on. There were a few close calls, most notably when Len kissed him for the first time and he’d gotten a little too excited and nervous and had to break it off before he started vibrating, but that’s okay. 

Then they get to Len’s apartment building on their walk back from the park and it is suddenly very not okay because oh my god how did he not notice the evening was building up to this and he doesn’t know if he even wants to walk away (he doesn’t) but Len thinks he’s a woman! What does he do?!?

Oh man, that is so great!

Like you said, he doesn’t want to walk away, but Len thinks he’s a woman and wow, would THAT be a really rude surprise that would totally ruin the moment, not to mention any chance of a second date.

So Barry plays coy when Len invites him up, gives a small, smirky, teasing smile and asks Len what kind of girl he takes her for. Plays it off as it not being something he does on a first date. So Len asks him out again. And even though he knows he shouldn’t, Barry accepts.

They keep going out and Barry keeps finding new excuses not to let things get far enough that Len would find out that ‘Scarlet’ isn’t actually a woman. Excuses like it still being too soon, or it’s getting late, or he has an important meeting early the next day.

Barry knows he should either break things off or come clean, but both options are so much easier said than done. He doesn’t want to break it off cos he actually really likes Len, thinks he might be falling in love with him, actually. But he’s also terrified of Len finding out the truth. Sure, there’s still the shame and humiliation that would have been there if Len had found out in the beginning, but more than that, he’s terrified of losing Len. What if Len laughs at him? Thinks he’s a freak or sick because of it? And even if he doesn’t, Len thinks he’s a woman, would he even want to date a man? Not to mention having sex with a man. And if by some miracle, none of that was a problem, if Len didn’t laugh, didn’t think him sick or a freak, would be okay dating and having sex with a man, well, Barry’s been lying to Len for months and he’s pretty sure there’s no way the Rogue is going to forgive that.

Meanwhile, Len’s been totally okay taking things at Scarlet’s pace, but it’s been months now and her excuses are starting to get a bit ridiculous and now Len’s starting wonder if maybe she isn’t stringing him along. It really isn’t something he thought she was capable of, but what other explanation could there be?

So the next time they have a date, when Scarlet makes yet another excuse not to come up to Len’s apartment, even after he makes it clear that they don’t have to do anything, that he just wants to literally sleep with her, wants to wake up with her, Len finally confronts her about it, demands to know why. Asks if she’s seeing someone else, asks if HE’S the someone else, asks if it’s all just a game to her.

Barry’s stricken, he feels like his heart is breaking at the look on Len’s face, the hurt in his normally carefully controlled voice. He knows he should come clean, but at this point he just doesn’t know how…

Okay, but what if all this happens in an alternate universe where Len finds out Barry is the Flash, but Barry doesn’t know at first? Like, Len doesn’t kidnap Cisco, just does a ton of his own research. So he totally knows who Barry is but he thinks Barry doesn’t know who he is. Conversely, Barry knows exactly who Snart is but doesn’t know that Snart knows his secret identity as the Flash.

Then Barry reveals that he’s actually a guy, and this becomes a complete rom-com scenario. Len has a crush on Barry who is also the Flash, and tries to get over it by dating a nice girl, who (surprise!) tuns out to be Barry, so he has to continue dating Barry while hiding the fact that he regularly battles him in the streets. Barry has a crush on Len and is dating him while trying to hide the fact that he’s a superhero, not noticing that Len already knows. 

That’s the painless, angst-free route, but it would contradict a lot of stuff we wrote earlier, so if we wanted to keep going with the angst….maybe Barry breaks up with Len?

Barry does it as Scarlet and he tells Len “I had a lot of fun and I genuinely do care for you but I’m not ready to take this relationship to the next level” and it’s tear-jerking and sincere. Only he couldn’t have done it at a worse moment because Len just did a ton of research and guess what? The woman breaking up with him isn’t Scarlet, because Scarlet isn’t real. She exists in no database, has no police record, no medical record, not even a high school transcript. So Len suffers through the break-up and then goes home and breaks down, because for all he knows it was some rich woman using him for a little fun on the side.

Barry is similarly miserable for weeks, and the worst thing is he can’t even explain why to anybody, because then he’d have to reveal his crossdressing and his habit of dating his villains and that would end badly.

Unfortunately, he can’t even mope in peace. The universe is wicked and cruel, because not two weeks later Barry has to face Len as Flash to stop Captain Cold from robbing another jewelry store. As if that wasn’t bad enough, things go horribly wrong and Barry ends up getting thrown through a wall and is knocked out cold.

Normally Len would just leave him there, but after losing Scarlet he wants to at least try with Barry. Sure, they’re nemeses, but getting rejected by the Flash can’t possibly be worse than dating Scarlet for weeks and then finding out it meant nothing. So he grabs Barry and takes him home. Maybe goes the extra mile and strips Barry out of the bloody suit, cleans his cuts and bandages them, makes sure he’s wearing clean clothes and goes to tuck him into bed to nap for a while, holds his hand and fantasizes about what could be, and, and….

…. And that ring looks very familiar.

Len bought Scarlet a few pieces of jewelry during their time together. When they broke up, he didn’t ask for them back. They were gifts, after all. Very unique gifts. So there’s no way the twined gold bands set with small rubies on Barry’s index finger are a coincidence. Len even pulls the ring off to check, and it’s definitely the exact same one he gave Scarlet.

What the hell? Does Barry run around beating up pretty women and stealing their jewelry in his spare time? Did Scarlet sell it to a pawnshop? It doesn’t look like Barry’s style, maybe he’s holding onto it for a friend? But then why would he be wearing it?

It’s in that moment, crouched by Barry’s bedside, ring resting innocently in his palm, that Len looks at Barry- really looks at him- and starts to connect the dots.

**Author's Note:**

> None of this is mine, just the inspiration for my work Scarlett.


End file.
